Plan de Negocio: Provemarks Ltda.

Se desarrolla un plan de negocios para la empresa Provemarks Ltda, comercializadora ubicada en la central de abastos de Bogotá. El objetivo de este plan de negocios es crear una estrategia que le permita diferenciarse de los demás competidores, en un mercado que se caracteriza por ser homogéneo.

Iglesia y Estado . La actuación de la Iglesia Católica en la legislación educativa española : leyes de enseñanza media de 1938 y 1953.

Estudiar la acción de la Iglesia en la legislación educativa española de 1939 a 1953: comienzo de la guerra civil y firma del Concordato entre el Estado español y la Santa Sede. Concretamente, estudiar la influencia de la Iglesia en la reforma de la enseñanza media de 1938 y 1953. La investigación se divide en tres partes: la primera coincide en el tiempo con los últimos años de la actividad del cardenal Gomá hasta su muerte en 1940. Como temas de mayor interés destacan los aspectos más sobresalientes de la participación de Gomá en asuntos relacionados con la enseñanza, mediante los informes que envía a la Santa Sede, su entrevista con Franco y la relación que mantuvo con la Comisión de Cultura y Enseñanza. Se profundiza también en las dificultades y enfrentamientos de la Iglesia con la Falange para evitar cualquier intento de monopolio estatal, sobre todo, el de la enseñanza. La segunda parte comprende el período más largo que abarca desde finales de 1938 hasta el verano de 1951. Se han investigado las actuaciones falangistas en contra de la ley de 1938 y de los colegios privados, y la respuesta de las órdenes religiosas que se dedicaban a la enseñanza. En la tercera parte, se ha desarrollado con amplitud el período que se extiende desde julio de 1951, cuando Ruiz-Giménez se hace cargo del Ministerio de Educación y decide emprender la reforma de la Ley de 1938, hasta la publicación de la nueva ley de enseñanza media en febrero de 1953. Desde los primeros años de la guerra el cardenal Gomá denunció las pretensiones de Falange para conseguir la centralización del aparato educativo. La política educativa de Sainz Rodríguez supuso un freno importante a los intentos falangistas por apartar a la Iglesia del control del sistema de enseñanza. La Ley de Enseñanza Media de 1938 fue acogida con enorme satisfacción por la Iglesia. Aunque la Ley de 1938 no fue derogada hasta 1953, enseguida surgieron los primeros intentos de reforma. La Falange cuestionó siempre el control educativo de la Iglesia. El Ministerio de Educación Nacional inició reformas con el fin de corregir algunos defectos. Incluso en 1947 tenía ya preparado un Proyecto de Ley de Enseñanza Media que el ministro tuvo que archivar debido a la fuerte oposición de los religiosos. Los defensores de la enseñanza privada siempre creyeron que con la nueva Ley de Enseñanza Media de 1953 reaparecería el viejo concepto liberal napoleónico de que sólo el Estado era el que tenía el derecho y el deber de enseñar. La Conferencia de Metropolitanos desempeñó un papel fundamental en la tramitación del Proyecto de Ley de Enseñanza Media de 1953, pues a raíz de los incidentes originados por la declaración de 8 de diciembre sustituyó a la Comisión Episcopal de Enseñanza, que, durante algún tiempo, no volvió a contar con la confianza del Gobierno. La Ley de 1953 fracasó en su intento por acercar posiciones entre los defensores de la enseñanza privada y aquellos que pedían un mayor control estatal de la enseñanza media. Import�� defender más el derecho de la Iglesia a enseñar su doctrina en los centros del Estado, que preocuparse por cómo se impartía su enseñanza, o las condiciones académicas e intelectuales de quienes lo hacían. A pesar de las fuertes tensiones y conflictos entre la Iglesia y el Estado durante los primeros años de franquismo, la jerarquía y el Gobierno estaban condenados a entenderse.

Poblaci?? universit??ria d???Eivissa i Formentera (2011): passat, present i futur de l???educaci?? superior a les illes Piti??ses

En aquest treball es presenten una s??rie de dades referents a l???alumnat universitari d???Eivissa i Formentera que ha estudiat durant el curs 2010-11. Aquestes dades, que tamb?? van acompanyades d???algunes reflexions, s???han complementat amb d???altres, com un hist??ric de dades, per poder tenir una visi?? m??s detallada de la situaci?? educativa. Tamb?? es vol remarcar la import??ncia de l???educaci?? superior per a la societat, i la transmissi?? de la cultura que desenvolupen les universitats presents a les illes Piti??ses.

Reptes, perspectives i possibilitats del patrimoni fotogr??fic digital per a la hist??ria i el museisme educatiu

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Unleashing Competition in EU Business Services. CEPS Policy Brief No. 284, 24 September 2012

In most EU member states, the business services industry has booked no productivity growth during the last two decades. The industry’s performance in the other member states was weaker than that of its US counterparts. Exploring what may be causing this productivity stagnation, this policy brief reports that weak competition has contributed to the continuing malaise in European business services. The study analyzed the persistence (over time) of firm-level inefficiencies. The evidence further suggests that competition between small firms and large firms in business services is weak. Markets for business services work best in countries with flexible regulation on employment change and with low regulatory costs for firms that start up or close down a business. Countries that are more open to foreign competition perform better in terms of competitive selection and productivity. The policy simulations in this paper show that greater import openness strengthens competition in business services markets. The largest positive impact comes from lower regulatory barriers for growing and shrinking firms. More particularly, competitive selection would be fostered by a reduction of administrative and regulatory costs related to labour contracts, bankruptcy and start-up requirements. A key element of the European Commission’s Europe-2020 strategy is the Single European Market for Services. Business services form one of the largest industries in Europe – and given its productivity stagnation, it deserves to be a priority target of the Europe-2020 strategy. Improving the way the business services market functions may have large positive knock-on effects for the EU economy.

MFN status and the choice of tariff regime

The gradualist approach to trade liberalization views the uniform tariffs implied by MFN status as an important step on the path to free trade. We investigate whether a regime of uniform tariffs will be preferable to discriminatory tariffs when countries engage in non-cooperative interaction in multilateral trade. The analysis includes product differentiation and asymmetric costs. We show that with the cost asymmetry the countries will disagree on the choice of tariff regime. When the choice of import tariffs and export subsidies is made sequentially the uniform tariff regime may not be sustainable, because of an incentive to deviate to a discriminatory regime. Hence, an international body is needed to ensure compliance with tariff agreement.

Integrating drivers influencing the detection of plant pests carried in the international cut flower trade

This paper analyses the cut flower market as an example of an invasion pathway along which species of non-indigenous plant pests can travel to reach new areas. The paper examines the probability of pest detection by assessing information on pest detection and detection effort associated with the import of cut flowers. We test the link between the probability of plant pest arrivals as a precursor to potential invasion, and volume of traded flowers using count data regression models. The analysis is applied to the UK import of specific genera of cut flowers form Kenya between 1996 and 2004. There is a link between pest detection and the Genus of cut flower imported. Hence, pest detection efforts should focus on identifying and targeting those imported plants with a high risk of carrying pest species. For most of the plants studied efforts allocated to inspection have a significant influence on the probabilty of pest detction. However, by better targetting inspection efforts, it is shown that plant inspection effort could be reduced without increasing the risk of pest entry. Similarly, for most of the plants analysed, an increase in volume traded will not necessarily lead to an increase in the number of pests entering the UK. For some species, such as conclude that analysis at the rank of plant Genus is important both to understand the effectiveness of plant pest detection efforts and consequently to manage the risk of introduction of non-indigenous species.

Myocyte remodeling in response to hypertrophic stimuli requires nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of muscle LIM protein

CSRP3 or muscle LIM protein (MLP) is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling protein and a mechanosensor in cardiac myocytes. MLP regulation and function was studied in cultured neonatal rat myocytes treated with pharmacological or mechanical stimuli. Either verapamil or BDM decreased nuclear MLP while phenylephrine and cyclic strain increased it. These results suggest that myocyte contractility regulates MLP subcellular localization. When RNA polymerase II was inhibited with alpha-amanitin, nuclear MLP was reduced by 30%. However, when both RNA polymerase I and II were inhibited with actinomycin D, there was a 90% decrease in nuclear MLP suggesting that its nuclear translocation is regulated by both nuclear and nucleolar transcriptional activity. Using cell permeable synthetic peptides containing the putative nuclear localization signal (NLS) of MLP, nuclear import of the protein in cultured rat neonatal myocytes was inhibited. The NLS of MLP also localizes to the nucleolus. Inhibition of nuclear translocation prevented the increased protein accumulation in response to phenylephrine. Furthermore, cyclic strain of myocytes after prior NLS treatment to remove nuclear MLP resulted in disarrayed sarcomeres. Increased protein synthesis and brain natriuretic peptide expression were also prevented suggesting that MLP is required for remodeling of the myo filaments and gene expression. These findings suggest that nucleocytoplasmic shuttling MLP plays an important role in the regulation of the myocyte remodeling and hypertrophy and is required for adaptation to hypertrophic stimuli. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interaction of the coronavirus nucleoprotein with nucleolar antigens and the host cell

Coronavirus nucleoproteins (N proteins) localize to the cytoplasm and the nucleolus, a subnuclear structure, in both virus-infected primary cells and in cells transfected with plasmids that express N protein. The nucleolus is the site of ribosome biogenesis and sequesters cell cycle regulatory complexes. Two of the major components of the nucleolus are fibrillarin and nucleolin. These proteins are involved in nucleolar assembly and ribosome biogenesis and act as chaperones for the import of proteins into the nucleolus. We have found that fibrillarin is reorganized in primary cells infected with the avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and in continuous cell lines that express either IBV or mouse hepatitis virus N protein. Both N protein and a fibrillarin-green fluorescent protein fusion protein colocalized to the perinuclear region and the nucleolus. Pull-down assays demonstrated that IBV N protein interacted with nucleolin and therefore provided a possible explanation as to how coronavirus N proteins localize to the nucleolus. Nucleoli, and proteins that localize to the nucleolus, have been implicated in cell growth-cell cycle regulation. Comparison of cells expressing IBV N protein with controls indicated that cells expressing N protein had delayed cellular growth. This result could not to be attributed to apoptosis. Morphological analysis of these cells indicated that cytokinesis was disrupted, an observation subsequently found in primary cells infected with IBV. Coronaviruses might therefore delay the cell cycle in interphase, where maximum translation of viral mRNAs can occur.

Assessment of the food control system in the State of Kuwait

National food control systems are a key element in the protection of consumers from unsafe foods and from other fraudulent practices. International guidance is available and provides a framework for enhancing national systems. However, it is recognized that before reaching decisions on the necessary improvements to a national system, an analysis is required of the current state of key elements in the present system. This paper provides such an analysis for the State of Kuwait. The fragmented nature of the food control system is described. Four key elements of the Kuwaiti system are analyzed: the legal framework, the administrative structures, the enforcement activity and the provision of education and training. It is noted that the country has a dependence on imported foods and that the present national food control system is largely based on an historic approach to food sampling at the point of import and is unsustainable. The paper recommends a more coordinated approach to food safety control in Kuwait with a significant increase in the use of risk analysis methods to target enforcement.

Exchange rate pass-through to prices in macrodata: a comparative sensitivity analysis

This paper compares exchange rate pass-through to aggregate prices in the US, Germany and Japan across a number of dimensions. Building on the empirical approaches in the recent literature, our contribution is to perform a thorough sensitivity analysis of pass-through estimates. We find that the econometric method, data frequency and variable proxy employed matter for the precision of details, yet they often agree on some general trends. Thus, pass-through to import prices has declined in the 1990s relative to the 1980s, pass-through to export prices remains country-specific and pass-through to consumer prices is nowadays negligible in all three economies we considered.

Transgenic soya beans: economic implications for EU livestock sector

World oilseed trade consists of many closely substitutable commodities, with canola and cottonseed as possible alternatives to soya beans for many purposes. Transgenic events in all three crops have been widely adopted, particularly in North and South America, for compelling economic or agronomic reasons. Despite the close attention from organizations concerned about the potential consequences of transgenic crop adoption, there appears to be no substantiated evidence of transgenic DNA in meat or milk products when such crops are fed to livestock. The global area of these transgenic crops continues to increase. No transgenic canola, cotton or soya bean crops are permitted for commercial cultivation in Europe, and although transgenic feed resources are permitted for import, importers risk shipments being denied entry if the traces of an unauthorized transgenic crop are detected. These tight controls can mean that livestock farmers in the EU are disadvantaged due to restricted access to cheaper feed or higher feed costs, and they are thus loosing a degree of competitive advantage. This paper reviews the extent to which transgenic soya beans have become the ‘conventional’ method of cultivation elsewhere, and notes implications this has for livestock nutrition, traceability and economics within the EU. The paper concludes with discussion regarding the implications for the EU of delayed acceptance of newly available transgenic traits.

Biofuel policies in the EU, US and Brazil

The development of biofuels has been one of the most visible and controversial manifestations of the use of biomass for energy. Biofuels policies in the EU, US and Brazil have been particularly important for the development of the industry in these three important markets. All three have used a variety of measures, including consumption or use mandates, tax incentives and import protection to promote the production and use of biofuels. Despite this, it is uncertain whether the EU will achieve its objective of a 10 per cent share for renewables in transport fuels by 2020. The US is also running into difficulties in meeting consumption mandates for biofuels. Questions are being raised about the continuation of tax credits and import protection. Brazil has liberalised its domestic ethanol market and adopted a more market-oriented approach to biofuels policy, but the management of domestic petroleum prices and the inter-relationship between the sugar market and ethanol production are important factors affecting domestic consumption and exports. In both the EU and the US an ongoing debate about the benefits of reliance on biofuels derived from food crops and concern about the efficacy of current biofuels policies may put their future in doubt.

British public policy and multinationals during the “Dollar Gap” era, 1945–1960

This article examines the role of British exchange and import controls in stimulating the dramatic increase in overseas (particularly American) multinationals in Britain from the end of the Second World War to the late 1950s, together with the ways in which the government used controls to regulate the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow. Exchange controls were both an important stimulus to inward investment and a powerful and flexible means of regulating its volume and character. Government was relatively successful in using these powers to maximize the dollar balance and industrial benefits of FDI to Britain, given initially severe dollar and capacity constraints, and in liberalizing policy once these constraints receded and competition from other FDI hosts intensified.

Carolingian culture in the North Sea world: rethinking the cultural dynamics of personal adornment in Viking age England

Boosted by a proliferation in metal-detected finds, categories of personal adornment now constitute a vital archaeological source for interpreting Viking-age cultural interaction in the North Sea region. Previous research in England has explored the potential of this metalwork in relation to the formation of ‘Anglo-Scandinavian’ identity, but without due consideration of a wider spectrum of cultural influences. This article redresses the balance by shifting attention to twenty-eight belt fittings derived from richly embellished baldrics, equestrian equipment, and waist belts manufactured on the Frankish continent during the period of Carolingian hegemony in the later eighth and ninth centuries ad. The metalwork is classified and then contextualized in order to track import mechanisms and to assess the impact of Carolingian culture on the northern peripheries of the Frankish empire. The main conclusion is that the adoption, adaptation, and strategic manipulation of Carolingian/northern Frankish identity formed an embedded component of cultural dynamics in Viking-age England, scrutiny of which sheds new light on patterns of interconnectivity linking peoples of the North Sea world.